nasty

«nasty» in Mova's school dictionary: Very unpleasant to see, smell, taste or feel: «a nasty… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (nasty, nastier, nastiest)

meaning for a pupil

1) Very unpleasant to see, smell, taste or feel: «a nasty smell». tree →

2) Unkind and mean: «a nasty comment». tree →

3) Bad, serious or dangerous: «a nasty cut», «a nasty fall». tree →

sense in the lessons

In lessons about friendship, being nasty (unkind words, teasing) hurts others; children learn to stop and say sorry. In health and safety, «a nasty cut» needs first aid. In stories, a nasty villain. Phrases: «a nasty shock», «a nasty cold», «turn nasty».

examples

• The milk had gone off and smelled nasty. tree →
• It was nasty of him to laugh at her. tree →
• She had a nasty fall off her bike. tree →
• Clean that nasty cut and put a plaster on it. tree →
• The weather turned nasty. tree →
• Don't be nasty to your little brother. tree →
• I've got a nasty cold. tree →

note

Comparatives: nastier, nastiest. Opposite: nice, kind, pleasant. Informal but common.

In the corpora

• A headline word like «Megxit» or «snub» makes a complicated choice sound simple and nasty.
• A horrid, nasty, crawly Toad!
• Not joining in when a nasty name goes round is a simple way to stop it spreading.
• Jake tells the head the real reason he hit someone: the boy said something nasty about his mum, who is in hospital.
• You can leave a game or a group if someone is being nasty, and tell an adult if it keeps happening.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «nasty» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.